Ida Yasin of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s Putra Business School said the MyKad was an efficient tool for distributing billions of ringgit in subsidies and cash aid to eligible recipients.
“It ensures that government funds are no longer wasted on those who shouldn’t be receiving them, especially foreigners.
“The MyKad is no longer just an identification document but a key instrument in economic policies,” she told FMT, adding that it provided Putrajaya with analytic data to understand people’s spending patterns.
“Through the SARA programme, the government can determine the percentage of cash aid spent on rice, eggs or milk, for example. With such data, public policies can be drafted to be more responsive to the people’s actual needs.”
However, she said some recipients might face challenges.
“Some may still be left out, such as the senior citizen who can’t head to the shops despite having the RM100 (SARA aid) in their MyKad. They might need others to help them spend the aid, and this situation should be taken into consideration.”
Ida urged the government to look into this scenario, to also prevent the potential misappropriation of aid or subsidies by way of unscrupulous individuals attempting to “re-sell” RON95 subsidies.
She said another key challenge was false MyKads or identity theft. While such cases might be few and far in between, the possibility still warranted serious attention, she added.
Universiti Teknologi Mara’s Idham Razak said the success of the SARA initiative prior to BUDI95’s announcement was empirical proof that the MyKad could be used to accurately identify eligible recipients.
“SARA has proven that cross-agency data integration, the use of algorithms for eligibility evaluation, and digital identity confirmation can reduce human error and the manipulation of systems.
“This can be used as a long-term model, not just for petrol subsidies, but also for cash aid and health or education incentives, paving the way for a national social policy that’s more inclusive, transparent and fiscally sustainable.”
‘300 litres a month a realistic amount’
Aimi Zulhazmi Abdul Rashid of Universiti Kuala Lumpur credited the government with being prudent in the BUDI95 initiative, announced nearly a year after plans to target RON95 petrol subsidies were unveiled in the 2025 budget.
“The government took more time before announcing it to ensure that it could be implemented well without many issues arising,” he said.
Aimi added that the allocation of 300 litres of RON95 a month to each recipient was a realistic amount, especially for those in the B40 and M40 income groups.
“For higher income earners who may have more vehicles, it’s fair for them to pay the market price after using up their monthly allocation.
“Besides that, luxury vehicle owners are more inclined to use RON97 petrol,” he said, adding that higher income earners still deserved to enjoy the subsidies since they are taxpayers.